Thursday, December 13, 2007

Pickle Puss

here is a short story long if you will... this story gives me hope that those not with us who are in heaven are still right there with us... and of course you have to wait until the end of the story to see why.. but I was touched by the entire occurance.. not just the proof.

My mom moved and also retired from her hospital she worked at for 25 years. She got a new part time job at a small country hospital right near her new home. So last week she was at work and she sees this strickingly handsome guy and he turns and looks at her and it happens to be a friend of her that she had grown up with's husband. The friend was a neighbor who was the "little sister" of a total of 3 sisters and 1 brother whom my mother is still good friends with. Now this sister Theresa (my middle name) was my grandmothers favorite and she had a little nickname for her.. Pickle Puss. At my grandmothers wake we laughed and talked about how my grandma called her that all the time... of course she cried, but was also curiously silent the entire time she was at the wake.. so much so that she slipped out without anyone noticing and left.. she didn't stay for the funeral and nobody knew why... we found out 6 months later when she herself died after losing her battle with cancer. She left behind two children 12 and 10 at the time... so the husband and kids live far from us.. about a 2 hour drive.. so you can imagine the shock my mom had when she saw him standing right in front of her... so as it turns out he works for a baby formula company (my mom works in mother baby taking care of moms after delivery and new babies) so he was there to give a presentation because their normal sales guy quit. Insanity for him, but part of his job. So they got to talking and my mom of course had to ask how the kids were doing, how he was doing... he said that his first Christmas was miserable BUT the first Christmas card he got that year was from her daughter (me) and that it really helped him through the season. (I'm seriously touched and so glad he told her because I wasn't sure if he was even getting them). I have no idea what I wrote in that card but apparantly he was very happy to recieve it. So they had a good talk and he excused himself to go clean up the conference room he had been using for a few hours to give this presentation.. so she followed him in to give him a hand because he had brought a full lunch.. sandwiches, chips, pop and he said "I forgot to take out the pickles" my mom had to leave the room.

So not only did my mom pick that hospital to work for (she really doesn't have to work) that shift work on that day (she picks her own hours) but then his sales guy quit and he was just filling in.. and they met in the weirdest of places.. and of course.. he forgets the pickles. Just the little things that almost give me proof they are still here with us because only to my mom would the pickles have signfigance.

Theresa, we love you, we miss you, we're glad you are still here with us.. thanks for the proof.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

just EXACTLY how many straws can there be in 24 hours???

SO OF COURSE.. I'M JUST TOTALLY NUCKING FUTZ... I'LL JUST TELL YOU THAT. I decided to take on 5 boys this weekend, had accepted 6 not all of them showed up. Plus I had to work at the boat this weekend, Friday and Saturday from 6pm to 1am... plus Tim was working 8am-6pm on Saturday.. plus I was going to have my holiday cookie exchange tonight.. Monday night.. that equals one busy weekend for me and *almost* wishing Tuesday and the whole thing was over and done with and life was back to normal.. Anyway.. so of course one thing leads to another.. 2 bad nights at the boat, some fighting kids, lack of sleep, not seeing my husband all weekend, driving kids all over the place and back (when they forgot stuff), an utter meltdown ending with a 3 hour cleanathon that landed me in Tylenol PM coma at 9pm on Sunday night.. the house was clean and most everything was ready for my party Monday night. Had some major problems at work, a system upgrade that totally effed our whole way of doing things.. had to start from scratch and refigure things.. took most the day.. got things on track... went home for lunch, shoveled most of the driveway... heard about a storm heading our way tonight... the phone rings one after another... and the one that stopped me dead in my tracks.. was the 2nd straw that broke the camels back in the last 24 hours... My dad had put Princess to sleep today.. no warning.. we knew she was old.. we knew she was in pain.. we thought it was just arthritis.. I guess it was more.. and he made the decision.. I cried my eyeballs out from 2-6pm within that time learning of another girl in my subdivision who was going to come over found out she had some really bad blood test results come back... the girl next doors great aunt died, her wake funeral was today and she was sick so couldn't come, another neighbor had a terrible weekend.. wound up spending 5 hours of her Saturday basically looking for a set of keys to get into her car which was locked in the Jewel parking lot... I can't say bad day.. I'm saying bad 4 days... Not sure if "thank god it's over" is appropriate.. the storm that is heading our way is going to be as bad (or maybe worse) than the one that hit back in January 1994. I was pregnant with Dylan and there was an ince of ice on everything.. closed down everything for more than 24 hours.

we'll see how I'm doing tomorrow.. for now.. Rest in Peace little Princess (bitch) we love you... no more pain for you.